‘Elysium’s’ Final Weekend Cume: Less than $30 Million

Pic received a so-so B Cinemascore from audiences

It turns out Matt Damon and “Elysium” didn’t quite crack the $30 million mark this past weekend.

Sony released the final weekend grosses for “Elysium” on Monday with the big-budget sci-fier earning $29.8 million in total, less than the $30.5 million that had originally been estimated.

The R-rated feature, produced for $115 million, is the latest Hollywood original to go belly up at the box office this summer, joining the likes of “After Earth,” “The Lone Ranger” and “R.I.P.D.,” all of which failed to receive better than a ‘B+’ Cinemascore from audiences.

“Elysium’s” debut was also down nearly 20% from director Neill Blomkamp’s last feature, “District 9,” which opened to $37.4 million in 2009 and was made for one quarter the budget ($30 million).

“Elysium” will try to erase its losses overseas over the next two months as it expands from 17 international markets.

District 9 had way more press than I think Elysium got. Beyond being spun off from a buzzy short film, they had a slick viral campaign at SDCC, as well as the Peter Jackson effect. Maybe I’m more aloof than than I was when D9 was coming down the pipeline, but I didn’t see the hypetrain as much as I’d expect. Did they hope the now-recognizable names would be a driver?

The actual meat and potatoes were undercooked, but that doesn’t explain why it didn’t pop the first weekend. Opening weekends are decided before the first butt hits the first seat.

why does the author put “Lone Ranger” in the same sentence as “other Hollywood originals”. Lone Ranger is a remake, albeit a shoddy one. Hollywood should focus on better writers, as the weak point in every movie listed is the cliche dialog, and one dimensional plots and characters.

Pssst, hey guys any chance that since every movie this year has pretty much tanked….it may be the world economy. If you struggle to buy food and pay rent, movies probably not going to be something you drop $20 a head on…just sayin.

Elysium is definitely another costly film(113million dollar production budget) that will end losing money. It needed a +50 million dollar opening just to have a shot at matching its production budget domestically over the course of its late summer run. With young people headed back to high school and college, weekday box office attendance is tapering off as well, so you don’t get the kinds of weekly box office boosts that are seen during May, June and July. That cinema score combined with the slew of films coming out this weekend suggests a decline of 60% or more is in store for this weekend, which means Elysium is probably looking at a weekend take of 11-13 million or less. So, the chances of this film even getting to 100 million is basically zero.

This BARELY underperformed. It’s not even in the same league of failure as Lone Ranger or After Earth. People just love to call any big summer movie a bomb. By the way, worldwide this has already taken in $40 million.

ELYSIUM isn’t as cutting edge and original as DISTRICT 9. The director working with a budget of $115 million this film was always going to become more bland and conventional so the film can be more appealing to a mainstream audience. Unfortunately that’s the sad way Hollywood thinks. DISTRICT 9 had a modest budget of $30 million and the director was allowed to be more daring and controversial. The originality is in DISTRICT 9 and not ELYSIUM. If this was Christopher Nolan Sony would have left Nolan alone to make his visionary statement, but with the director of ELYSIUM Sony was probably calling the shots to make it more conventional and in my opinion limiting the box office.

They’re simply reacting to what the movie actually is. And Blomkamp was given carte Blanche on this one. This is Hollywood’s way of rewarding success like District 9 — by giving the director enough rope to either prove his vision, or hang himself. Sighs